RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of West Virginia >> McDowell County >> Mohegan >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Mohegan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mohegan and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Mohegan:
    • 37.453168, -81.630664
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Mohegan
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Since Mohegan is near Wyoming County and also Buchanan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Mohegan

Communities Also Named Mohegan ...

We found four communities that are also named Mohegan.

Within West Virginia, the name Mohegan is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New London County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Connecticut community of Mohegan [New London County].
    • Mississippi
      • Noxubee County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Mohegan [Noxubee County].
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Mohegan [Westchester County].
    • Rhode Island
      • Providence County
      • This Mohegan is located in Providence County and lies 616 miles [991.4 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Mohegan that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Providence County community of Mohegan.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mohegan ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Antler
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Antler is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antler
  • Big Sandy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Big Sandy is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sandy
  • Davy
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Davy is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davy
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 324 people
  • Erin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Erin is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Hemphill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hemphill is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemphill
  • Marine
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Marine is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marine
  • Marytown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Marytown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marytown
  • Premier
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Premier is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Premier
  • Twin Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Twin Branch is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Branch

How Far From Mohegan to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mohegan to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Mohegan and extending to:

  • Welch, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 61 miles [98.2 km]<3> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Mohegan to Charleston, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 268 miles [431.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,154 miles [9,903.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,864 miles [11,046.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,740 miles [7,628.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Mohegan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Mohegan could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mohegan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Mohegan to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mohegan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4532, Longitude: -81.6307       In this case, the coordinates for Mohegan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.674 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.396 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.147 degrees.